The focus has again turned to aging environmental laws that both the former Morrison government and the Albanese government last term failed to reform.<\/p>\n
Under current laws, new developments only need federal approval if they are likely to damage the environment, harm threatened species or affect culturally sensitive land.<\/p>\n
That means only a fraction of projects fall within the Commonwealth’s remit.<\/p>\n
But ABC News understands that even within that smaller pool, there is still a backlog of 30,000 projects, including many of industry’s largest proposals, and plenty of room to speed up approvals.<\/p>\n
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Danielle Wood will open Wednesday’s session. (ABC News: Daniel Irvine)<\/p>\n
Both Environment Minister Murray Watt and Housing Minister Clare O’Neil will be at the forum today, searching for the balance between protecting the environment and delivering homes faster.<\/p>\n
Ms Wood on Monday pointed out that housing approval times had blown out 50 per cent in the past three decades due to regulation. It means “hard conversations” are unavoidable, including about heritage and density restrictions.<\/p>\n
Freeze on construction rules on the cards<\/p>\n
Last week, Treasury documents that were leaked to the ABC suggested the government could freeze changes to the National Construction Code<\/a> to speed up housing approvals as a major outcome of the three-day summit.<\/p>\n Labor derided a Coalition policy for a 10-year freeze at the 2025 election, arguing it would lead to the construction of “shoddy homes”.<\/p>\n Now, the government seems to be inching towards a freeze, which is feeding criticism from the opposition.<\/p>\n “The government are hopeless when it comes to balancing the needs of more housing while protecting the environment. Labor are totally paralysed by this dilemma,” Shadow Housing Minister Andrew Bragg told the ABC.<\/p>\n “If their only outcome from the roundtable is to copy our policy, you can forgive us for rolling our eyes.”<\/p>\n Andrew Bragg said Labor was “paralysed” by the tensions between housing and the environment.<\/p>\n Behind closed doors, Labor MPs admit the scale of the problem. Treasury documents show the government is not on track to meet its own election pledge of building 1.2 million homes<\/a> in five years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n